Interest in immigration rallies wanes as groups focus on other methods of activism

But many leaders remain committed to marching

It's been slow going for Armando Pena as he hits up Waukegan's Latino-owned businesses to drum up donations for next week's immigration march in Chicago. He leaves a Mexican restaurant with $20. He gets another $10 from a beauty parlor. The Azteca bakery ponies up $620, but rejections are more common.

"I'm getting a lot of no, no, no's," he said.

The massive immigration marches of 2006, including the May 1 rally that brought 400,000 people to Grant Park, helped drive immigration reform to the top of the national agenda and gave new focus to the immigrant community in the Chicago area.Two years later, Spanish-language morning talk shows are buzzing about a new march. But some community leaders in the suburbs, a vital source of support in past demonstrations, are expressing doubts about whether massive rallies are the right tactic this year.

With five days, supporters point out that there is still time to organize a strong showing. Earlier marches picked up much of their momentum in the final days and hours.

But some veterans of past marches appear to be sitting this one out. In Melrose Park, Rev. Claudio Holzer has made his churches, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Charles Borromeo, a hub for the growing Latino community with citizenship workshops, a soccer league and a club for young Latinos.

Two years ago, hundreds of his congregants loaded onto 42 buses that left from the churches. This year, like last, only two buses will go.

"I think we have used a lot of energy to promote these marches," Holzer said. "For a lot of people the march season is over. Now, we have to talk about lobbying."

In Chicago last week, activists sought to build momentum by rallying on the first anniversary of a fake ID bust in Little Village. That raid -- which sparked community outrage when federal agents, guns drawn, questioned scores of frightened shoppers -- re-energized march preparations last spring.

This year, activists again are urging immigrants to channel frustration over workplace raids and deportations around the country and take to the streets.

But fear of that crackdown has dampened some illegal immigrants' activism, say suburban organizers.

Others are divided over whether the marches do more harm than good.

"I think people feel these kinds of public displays of unity are significant and important, but it can also have the opposite effect," said Rev. Gary Graf, the pastor of three predominantly Latino Catholic churches in Waukegan and North Chicago.

"What offends people ... is that you see [marchers] holding these placards and flags and saying, 'Give us our rights,'" Graf said. "I think in the minds of most citizens the undocumented person doesn't have rights until, in fact, the law changes and gives them access to those rights, and that's why the marches are necessary. ... It's like a catch-22."

Graf plans to attend the march and is inviting his congregation to join, but he is not promoting it as strongly as in years past.

"I'm trying to play the middle road and say, 'Let's converse, let's educate, let's not provoke those who are in positions to enforce the law,'" Graf said.

Last year, Pena and other march organizers in Waukegan raised more than $7,000 to pay for 11 buses and two vans to the rally.

This year, Pena has again pounded the pavement for donations. But so far his clipboard shows a meager tally: about $1,200, less than what he needs to charter just three buses.

Some businesses have declined to give, explaining money is tight in today's receding economy. Others "think the marches are a waste of time," he said.

"People are afraid that if we keep protesting, the deportations and raids will be worse," said Pena, a house painter from the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

"The businesses are not responding. Maybe it's out of fear," he added. "People are not enthusiastic. They don't feel they want to leave their homes, they don't feel they want to protest or stand up for their rights because no one listens."

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, one of the lead organizations behind the first march, has put some of its energy into different kinds of civic engagement.

In the last three years, the coalition has partnered with 35 community organizations to help more than 32,000 immigrants fill out citizenship applications. Since 2004, the coalition and its partners have registered 55,000 new immigrant voters.

"The coalition believes the marches and voter registration are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they reinforce each other," said Juan Jose Gonzalez, field coordinator of the coalition's New Americans Democracy Project. "It's a matter of taking that energy ... and converting it to civic participation."

Lourdes Espinoza, a march organizer in Aurora, said she has heard divided opinions over the effectiveness of the marches, but she thinks there is plenty of interest.